State Briefs 2/27/09

KNOXVILLE -- Illinois State Police are investigating a Feb. 5 incident in which an off-duty Knoxville Police officer is accused of shooting a dog with a pellet gun.

Samantha J. Boynton told police she and her sister accidentally left the back door of their home open, and their dog got out. She said her dog was squatting when her neighbor, officer Rick Pecsi, shot the dog about 20 times with a pellet gun.

She said the dog was injured and bleeding, and Knoxville officers who responded observed blood on the back patio, door frame, window blinds, door glass and through the living room of the residence.

Pecsi is the former Knoxville Police chief whose contract was not renewed in 2005 but remained as acting police chief until 2007. He remains an officer on the Knoxville Police force.

Knoxville Police Chief Ron Poyner says his department cannot investigate its own officers, so the matter was turned over, first to the Knox County Sheriff’s Department, then to Illinois State Police District 7. Calls placed to Master Sgt. Lloyd Murphy of ISP 7 were not immediately returned.

The Register-Mail

Chrysler still cutting back in Belvidere

BELVIDERE -- Chrysler LLC will again operate one shift next week at its Belvidere assembly plant, where workers build the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot, the automaker said Friday.

It will be the third straight week the plant – which employs 2,700 workers – will run just one shift as the company tries to cut costs because of the slumping economy. First shift will be off next week.

Chrysler is adjusting plant schedules week by week to match production to demand as closely as possible.

Rockford Register Star

Employee allegedly tries to hit manager with French fry scoop

SPRINGFIELD -- Police were told an employee tried to hit a shift manager with a French fry scoop and then damaged the manager’s van with a baseball bat Thursday morning at an Arby’s.

Police were called to the restaurant about 11:30 a.m. and were told a 21-year-old employee was fired after she got into a disturbance with a shift manager.

The woman allegedly tried to hit the shift manager with a metal French fry scoop, missing the manager but hitting another employee. The woman was escorted out the door, where she retrieved a metal baseball bat from her vehicle and started hitting the shift manager’s Mercury Villager van, smashing the front passenger-side window, police were told.

The woman drove away before officers arrived.

State Journal-Register

Fatal bus crash case referred to appellate prosecutor

ROCKFORD -- Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato announced Friday that the investigation concerning the Nov. 3 fatal crash involving Rockford School District bus driver Leah Robinson, 37, and Nelson Elementary School student Miguel Carreno, 9, is being referred to the Illinois office of the appellate prosecutor.

Bruscato referred the case to the Illinois attorney general’s office due to a conflict of interest involving himself and the law firm that was hired to represent the School District in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the boy’s family.

But after reviewing the matter, the attorney general’s office sent the case back to Bruscato, saying it doesn’t believe that there’s a conflict or appearance of impropriety.

“While the office of the state’s attorney respects the decision of the Illinois attorney general, we disagree with the conclusion,” Bruscato said. “I firmly believe that there still exists an issue, and the decisions of this office must be made free of any potential conflicts of interest.”

According to police, Robinson struck and killed Miguel about 7:10 a.m. Nov. 3 as he walked to his bus stop.

In its suit against Robinson and the district, the family alleges that Robinson did not see Miguel in the street when she hit him with the school bus.

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